Snapshots
by forensicsfan
Summary: <html><head></head>Snapshots inspired by moments in various episodes of Bones. B and B of course.</html>
1. Chapter 1

**_Snapshots_**

**_Disclaimer:_** I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them.

**_Author's Note:_** This idea came from a prompt (thanks, Jaime), I used two of the three words given - cell and chair. I hope to continue this periodically as moments in episodes inspire.

**_Chapter 1 - Transformation_**

Booth had been free for a few weeks. He and Bones were trying to sort things out and get back into a groove. But everything was different. The home he had put blood and sweat into for his family was gone. Bones had found a new home for them and had salvaged many things from the one they'd lost, but he felt off kilter. He needed to orient himself and he knew that was going to take some time. And when she'd told him that he was the one running, the one who had seemingly lost his grip on faith and love, he knew she was right. So he'd started running. Not running from faith or love, but running to find himself again.

With each footfall on the soft earth in the woods around their home, he felt like he was reconnecting with the world. He ran and the early morning fog of autumn seem to wrap him up in peace and he found himself praying and cursing and crying and then grieving the loss of the last few months and the loss of his friend. All those things that he needed to work through, things that Sweets would have pulled out of him eventually, he worked out in the early morning silence on these runs.

The first few times he'd gone out to run, it was because he'd woken up with a start, breathing hard until he realized he wasn't locked up in a cell. He needed to feel the freedom of the outdoors, something that he would never take for granted again. He'd whispered to Bones that he was going for a run, kissed her cheek and then sat in the chair in the corner of their bedroom and watched for a few minutes as she fell back to sleep and he slipped on his running shoes.

He stepped out the front door and just stood there for a few minutes taking in the stillness of the early morning. And then he ran.

The soft rolling hills around their home tucked in the woods led to a stream and then a school and further on a couple of weekend farms with horses grazing in the early morning light. This place that Bones had found for them was in such a peaceful setting and he relished the freedom of wide spaces and quiet. On those early morning runs he felt like he was the only one in the world and in those moments it felt good. Not that he wanted to be alone - he knew Bones and Christine would be at home starting their day when he returned - but that time spent alone in his thoughts pounding his fears and hurt and frustration into the ground as he ran became transformational.

He didn't run everyday, but he ran often.

He found that it was a form of therapy that he couldn't explain to anyone else and yet as time went on, it became obvious that something was slowly changing. He seemed to regain his inner strength and his agitation from being locked up unjustly for three months dissipated.

And he and Bones seemed to regain their footing. It was different than before. If he could have turned back time and change the course of those painful events he would have, but they had also found a depth in their relationship that only comes from walking through hard things together. And since they couldn't change the past, they went forward.

He wasn't running from faith and love any longer. He was running because it had made him free. And freedom was a beautiful thing.


	2. Chapter 2 - Let It Go

**Chapter 2 - Let it Go**

Booth was pulled from a deep sleep by the feeling that he was being watched. His mind made a quick assessment of the situation, Bones was snoring away, so clearly it wasn't her. His brow furrowed as he blinked his eyes open in the dim light emanating from his bedside clock to find his daughter crouched next to the bed with her face about three inches from his just staring.

As soon as she saw the whites of his eyes, she smiled. "Daddy, is today Halloween?"

He glanced at the clock, it was four o'clock in the morning. "It will be in a few hours." He debated about taking her back to her room and making her go back to sleep, or just letting her climb in with him and Bones.

"I need a costume." She sounded very pensive.

"I thought you were going to dress up like Mommy." That's all they'd talked about for weeks. Bones had thought that it was sweet that Christine had wanted her very own lab coat.

Her lower lip quivered. "I don't wanna be a frensic antropolgist." She loved her mommy, but this was important. This was Halloween and she was four.

"Honey, it's still time to be asleep. We can talk about this in the morning." He was about to say that he didn't want her to wake up Bones, but he could already feel her stirring next to him. The only thing more sensitive than his sniper senses was the super sonic hearing of mothers.

"But I don't wanna go to sleep. I need a costume!" Big crocodile tears threatened to spill down her cheeks.

"Christine." Brennan's voice slipped through the darkness. "I thought you wanted to wear a lab coat."

"Not anymore." Her chin quivered and she climbed up onto the bed, up and over Booth so she could snuggle between them.

Booth and Brennan exchanged a glance in the darkness and let out a collective sigh.

"Christine, what do you want to dress up as?" Booth hoped that maybe they'd get lucky and she'd want to be a ghost or a ballerina.

"I want to be Elsa!" And the tears started to fall as her words blubbered out. "But I don't want to froze anyone."

"Honey, you can't actually freeze anyone if you dress up like Elsa." Brennan wished now that they'd never bought the movie.

"Christine, we don't even know if there are any Elsa costumes left." Booth felt two sets of eyes on him in the darkness. Before either could suggest that he find out, he was already slipping out of bed and reaching for something presentable to wear in public.

So here he was at his third 24-hour super store at five in the morning trying to track down what was probably the last Elsa costume in the DC Metro area. Surely someone somewhere had to have at least one Elsa costume that would fit a four year old.

He had almost given up hope when he spotted something poking out between a couple of miniature super heroes. His had reached out and seized the prize and then another hand almost yanked it out of his. The words barked out of his mouth. "Let it go."

Eyebrows shot up on the owner of the other hand, a portly balding guy in a sweatsuit. "Really? You're gonna go there."

"I saw it first. I got it first." Booth didn't have time to deal with this guy and he gave his best bad ass federal agent don't mess with me glare. "Let it go." He still hadn't quite picked up on the irony of his statement.

"My kid wants an Elsa costume, by my count, that's the last one in the district." Mr. Baldy wasn't backing down.

"This is my third store and I got it first. My daughter needs this costume." He was about to whip out his badge, but thought maybe it wasn't time for that. Yet.

Baldy tugged and then scowled. "I can't disappoint my kid."

"Let go." Booth had a glare that could melt steel. "There's a whole rack of costumes over there and I got this one first." The rack was sparse and maybe had five or six costumes left.

Baldy took another tactic. "Look, buddy, my wife is gonna kill me if I don't bring home this costume."

Booth raised a single eyebrow, but didn't loosen his grip.

Baldy started to babble. "Okay, maybe we could work some kind of deal. I get the costume and I help you score something really good."

"I'm not giving up the costume." Booth wondered exactly what he meant by something really good, but didn't have to wait long to find out.

"You name it, I can get it for you." Baldy tugged at the sleeve.

"I've got what I want, now let it go." Booth could see a store security guard slowly edging in their direction.

Baldy huffed out his annoyance. "You need to relax, man. Maybe you need some weed. You let me have the costume and I'll set you up with a nice baggie. Your own little trick or treat bag. Just give me the damn costume." He tugged again.

"No can do." Booth held a firm grip on the Elsa costume and whipped his badge out in one swift motion.

Baldy let go and bolted about fifteen feet until he bounced right off of the security guard and fell back onto his rear.

The security guard raised a single brow at Booth and then glanced down at the guy at his feet. "Everything alright over here?"

Booth shrugged his shoulders, his badge in one hand, the costume in the other. "I told him to let it go and he didn't."


End file.
